The effect of lipid peroxidation product 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE) on the protein conformation of porcine cerebral cortex Na⁺–K⁺-ATPase was examined in term of the intrinsic tryptophanyl fluorescence measurement. Treatment of ATPase with HNE resulted in a decrease in the fluorescence intensity and an increase in the fluorescence anisotropy in a concentration-dependent manner. The difference in the fluorescence intensity and fluorescence anisotropy observed between the control and HNE-modified ATPase completely disappeared after treatment of the protein with guanidine hydrochloride (1 M). These results suggest that HNE-modification of the Na⁺–K⁺-ATPase induces alterations in the conformation of the enzyme molecule. This interpretation was further supported by a decrease in fluorescence quenching efficiency with acrylamide and sulfhydryl (SH) content. The decrease in quenching efficiency suggests that the proximity of the quencher molecule to the fluorophores located in the enzyme is suppressed. Modification of the enzyme with N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) also resulted in a decrease in quenching efficiency with the loss of SH groups. Furthermore, a good relationship between the SH content and these fluorescence parameters (fluorescence anisotropy and quenching efficiency) were observed. On the other hand, treatment of the Na⁺–K⁺-ATPase with other aldehydes such as malondialdehyde (MDA), 1-hexanal and nonanal did not affect either the quenching efficiency or SH content. Based on these results, the possibility of alterations in the physical properties of the Na⁺–K⁺-ATPase associated with modification by HNE has been discussed.